Hi. Before a product can be built, someone has to see it whole: what it should be, exactly who it’s for, and why it deserves to exist. That’s my job. Then I stay to lead the teams that design and ship it. I’ve done that work from every seat: directing at agencies,08 founding my own,07 building platforms from zero,0506 and eight years inside Nike.04
Today I work two ways: directly with brands02 — the founder, the leadership team — and as a partner to agencies on their client work.03 And every week, in public, I take apart the best work in outdoor, sport & lifestyle.01
I take on a few engagements a year. Two tests: work I’d put my name on, and people I’d work with twice. Building something interesting? Book a discovery call — or skip the formalities: hello@dancoe.me
The Brand Report. My public research practice. Every week: what makes the great brands great — read by the CMOs and founders running them. It keeps the consulting sharp. It’s also free.
Directly with brands, now. I’m working with Converse on Blank Canvas — a new way for emerging artists to create with the brand. And with Fire Aside to redesign the digital products that help communities survive wildfire.
Partner to agencies, now. Your banner, your NDA, your client. I’m working with Enjoy the Weather to innovate how and where people can customize, and with Love Street & Co on a new way we’ll all use the computer in our pocket.
Nike, ×8 years. I led the redesign of Nike By You — how millions of people make a Nike product their own — and spent three years in Nike Valiant Labs building a platform for emerging artists to collaborate with Nike.
Rally Community Platform. A community platform for outdoor and adventure sports. The software is long gone; the community isn’t — it still rides, every week, as a crew of adventurous mountain bikers in Marin, CA. Build a platform well enough and it outlives its own code.
Platform founder. The first commerce platform for Tumblr — a community marketplace where artists sold their work directly to the audiences they’d built.
Agency founder. Victoria’s Secret, Lane Bryant, C.O. Bigelow. I learned what it takes to run the work, not just make it.
Agency design director. Digital for Burton Snowboards and the Wexner Center for the Arts. I learned the craft where the work gets made.